The Little Tin Star
by Victor
Summary: A western-style AU where Sheriff Seifer Almasy likes his days to be easy, but The Leonheart Gang tend to make sure that doesn't happen all that often. Especially when they're looking for a fugitive they think is hiding in his town.
1. Chapter 1

He heard the shouting - "SHERIFF! SHERIFF! We got trouble!" - and heavy, running footfalls long before Chet barged through the doors of the jailhouse. "They's comin'! Just over the rise outside the north end a' town!"

He pushed his hat off his face and turned his head to Chet with a look that didn't need any words.

"The Leonheart Gang! All four of 'em!"

He listlessly pulled his legs from the desk and his spurs jangled when his feet hit the floor. He let out a tired sigh and walked over to the window. Chet was panting so hard, Seifer would've thought he'd run all the way from the next town over rather than from a quarter mile up the road if he didn't know better. "Go tell the others to keep their eyes open. I'll let 'em know if I need 'em."

"Sure thing, Sheriff."

As soon as he saw Chet disappear into the saloon across the street, sheriff Seifer Almasy stepped out of the jailhouse and waited for Leonheart to make the town gate. They weren't riding in their standard formation, which gave him a good reason to worry. They always rode two-by-two if they were expecting - or planning - some trouble, but a deviation from that could mean that they were on a scouting trip or that they'd developed a new strategy. Their pattern now was Leonheart flanked by Dinct and Heartilly with Tilmitt riding behind. What the hell was he looking to do?

He didn't want to deal with Leonheart today. Two months ago was recent enough and having Heartilly around always made an untenable situation that much worse. Leonheart was an arrogant jackass on the best of days and even if the insufferable son-of-a-bitch didn't want to start any trouble, Seifer didn't have to look too far to find ways to better spend his time.

He reached up and absentmindedly scratched the faint scar at the top of the bridge of his nose with his thumbnail. He looked slowly from one end of the wide avenue that split the town to the other, taking stock of his surroundings. Fujin was sitting in a chair just outside the doors of the saloon rolling a coin across her knuckles and Raijin had taken up a post further down the street near the livery. Seifer gave each of them a head nod in turn as he noted their positions.

Leonheart's group passed through the town gates and Seifer's breath caught in his throat. Heartilly wasn't even with them. Tilmitt was the opposite flank of Dinct and Trepe was the one riding behind.

The group stopped two or three yards from the jail's hitching posts and made no moves to dismount. Seifer stepped down into the street and met Leonheart's eyes. He couldn't help but notice the scar that mirrored his own was redder, more jagged - angrier - on Leonheart even since the last time Seifer had seen him.

"I ain't lookin' to get into anything with you today, Leonheart."

Squall cocked an eyebrow and a small bolt of lightning kicked up some of the dirt in front of Seifer, who broke eye contact long enough to see a tendril of smoke rise from the small hole. When he looked back up, Leonheart had a half-smirk showing beneath the shadow of the brim of his hat.

"Maybe we're lookin' to get into somethin' with you, Almasy."

Seifer pulled his gaze away from Leonheart to focus on Dinct. "Its a good thing I know why your boss don't speak much anymore, you ugly bastard. Otherwise, I'd be less likely to put up with you runnin' your mouth than I already am."

Dinct's eyes narrowed and Seifer saw his shoulders tense.

"Go ahead and try somethin', chicken fucker. I'll put an extra hole in your head before you can even get off that nag you call a horse."

Dinct relaxed. He smiled around the toothpick he was chewing on and managed to look even more predatory than usual. The deep bronze tan of his skin already made the ghostly pale of the brand on his face a frightening contrast, but when his lips pulled back to show his teeth, he looked more like a ghoul than a man.

Seifer addressed the group as a whole, making an effort to not look at Trepe, and he could see from the corner of his eye that she was doing the same thing. "Look, I know you ain't here for a quick visit and a chat about my day, so just say your piece and move along. Guns-for-hire stirrin' up trouble in my town ain't nothin' I got time for.

Dinct looked like he was about to say something else when Leonheart casually put a hand on his shoulder and gave a small shake of his head. At that, Trepe dismounted and pulled something from her saddlebag. She approached Seifer and held out a small sheaf of papers. "Comin' from us, you won't be inclined to take this seriously, but let me assure you that you should."

Seifer took the papers and read them. He couldn't resist a chuckle from escaping his throat. "Somebody's payin' you twenty thousand gil to track down your own sister and you took the job?" Squall clenched his jaw as Seifer fixed him with a lopsided grin. "You're more of an asshole than I thought, Leonheart."

Trepe took the requisition back from Seifer and gestured broadly to all of them. "Look, Almasy, our history's got nothin' to do with this. We're doin' a job and we don't want to interfere with you doin' yours. Tell us if you've seen her and we'll be on our way."

"Otherwise," Dinct piped up, "we stay awhile." He was openly shifting his gaze from Fujin to Raijin and back again, spoiling for a chance to start a fight.

"How about I pay you twenty five thousand to leave right now and never come back?" Seifer was looking at Trepe when he asked, but it was Tilmitt who responded.

"You'd do that to protect her? You ain't that stupid. 'Sides, we'd just take the money and burn Balamb to the ground anyway."

"No you won't."

"How d'you figure?"

"'Cause she ain't here, that's how. And that standin' order you got expires in two weeks. You ain't gonna spend valuable time makin' my town a bonfire when you need to be travelin' on."

Dinct, finally settling his attention back on Seifer, scoffed. "You ain't got that much money no way."

"Maybe I do, maybe I don't. But I know how Pretty Boy is when it comes to gil," Seifer visibly grinned when Squall stiffened at being called that. "I'd rob my own damn bank to give you enough to clear the hell out and never darken my door again."

"No deal." Leonheart's voice was the sound of sand pouring over rusted metal - nearly inaudible and so coarse it could almost be mistaken for another language. The four of them all turned to look at him as he continued. "If she ain't here now, she's been here. I'm givin' you a day to pull your head outta your ass, Almasy. This time tomorrow, we'l be back and ask again. The answer we want gets you a bit of extra gil and a wide berth from us from now on."

"Lemme guess, the other answer gets me dead from Dinct jabberin' at me all day."

Dinct sneered and spit his toothpick at Seifer.

"The answer we don't want," Leonheart continued, "gets me tellin' Rinoa to make you the sheriff of a fuckin' crater full of ghosts in the middle of goddam nowhere." Without breaking eye contact, Leonheart made a small gesture with his hand. Two lightning bolts landed at the same time. One in front of Fujin and another in front of Raijin. Leonheart showed his teeth in a full smile and though Seifer fought not to let it show, he felt his skin crawling with fear.

* * *

 _So here's a bunch of things happening at once: I'm not only attempting an AU, but a multi-chapter AU with Seifer as the hero of the piece and the people we usually see as paragons being truly despicable human beings. Not only do I think this will be fantastic fun to write, but I'm getting to establish a rather funky western-style headcanon for myself. And since you made it all the way down to my author's note, you're at least a little invested, right? Good. Chapter two is on the way..._


	2. Chapter 2

Leonheart turned Tempest back toward the town gate and Tilmitt and Dincht followed suit. Trepe took an extra couple of seconds to mount Whiplash, using that precious time to impart a month's worth of conversations in one long look. Seifer kept his face and body language passive since Dinct was craning his neck as far around as he could manage in a continued attempt to stare him down.

"We'll be back tomorrow, Almasy."

"I ain't deaf, jackass."

Only once they had become a series of dusty silhouettes did Seifer allow his shoulders to slump with the release of tension. He closed his eyes and let out a long breath. Raijin's hand on his shoulder came a moment later.

"You a'ight, Boss?"

Seifer nodded. "Yeah. They'll be back tomorrow and I ain't bettin' on it bein' as uneventful as today was."

"We'll be ready."

Raijin and Fujin disappeared into the jailhouse and Seifer crossed the street to the saloon, taking off his hat as he entered. The gentle murmuring of voices and the jaunty music of the piano made him feel better. He was sure that the place had been as still and quiet as a tomb while Leonheart had been just outside, but it still felt like the room hadn't paid the outside world no mind.

He approached the bar where Kadowaki had placed a shot of whiskey. "Might as well leave the bottle, Doc."

She gave him a questioning look which he answered with a grin and a nod towards the other end of town. Kadowaki set the bottle and another shot glass in front of Seifer as he passed a few coins to her. "How much trouble we lookin' at, Sheriff?"

"Nothin' I can't handle."

"Would you tell me otherwise?"

He downed the shot. "Nope."

Kadowaki shook her head. "You been from one end of the law to the other, Almasy, but ain't none of it changed how stubborn you are."

Seifer smiled at that. "I ain't tryin' to be hard-headed, Doc, but I'm the one wearin' this little tin star. 'Sides, if it turns out I need your services, I hope you'll provide 'em without me askin' first."

She scoffed and moved off down the bar, waving a dismissive hand at him before disappearing through the storeroom door.

.

A wide staircase at the back of the saloon led up to two more floors of rooms for rent. Seifer climbed the steps to the third story and made his way to room eighteen. He knocked gently and after a moment saw the light coming through the peephole vanish and then reappear.

Ellone opened the door and greeted him with a weary smile. "C'mon in, Sheriff."

"No thanks. Let's take a walk."

A dash of confusion slipped across her face when she saw the whiskey in his hand, but she stepped out of the room and pulled the door shut. "Did you forget that I don't drink?"

"This ain't for you." He looked at the bottle. "Dealin' with your brother means needin' a plan and I ain't much of a planner, so we're gonna get some help."

"And the whiskey is payment?"

"Not exactly, but you shouldn't show up to somebody's house empty handed."

They made their way outside and into an uncrowded bustle of people going about their business. The morning's excitement had all but faded and Balamb's residents had no reason not to return to their routines. They took a leisurely pace towards the far end of town.

"How was he?" Ellone asked out of the blue.

"Who? Leonheart? Even more of an asshole than he was the last time he slithered through town."

"I'm still his big sister. I might not agree with how he's behaving, but I'm not about to stop caring about him."

Seifer replied with a scornful chuckle.

"You could show a little compassion for him. It's not like his life's been that different from yours."

"No?" He stopped to turn and look at her. "How much d'you know about him, really? How much d'you know about me?"

She shook her head. "Nothing to speak of."

"We ain't never been anything but opposites, Leonheart and me. I was always the one makin' trouble and he was keepin' his head down. Then, I started makin' some real bad choices and he made better ones. That turned into me bein' the bad guy and him savin' the world."

"I remember that part." She smiled to let him know she wasn't being mean.

"Once Ultimecia was gone, I had nothin' to do but mend fences. The only reason I ain't locked up or already dead is 'cause a' him. So I got busy makin' somethin' of myself. And every step forward I took, he slid back two." He tapped the little tin star on his lapel. "I been doin' this for six years now and still wonder if I'm the right guy for the job… but I look at Leonheart and see how twisted he is and I see I ain't got no choice. It ain't like people are linin' up to stand against him."

"But they will if you stand up first."

Seifer smirked and shook his head. "Yeah. Ain't that a kick in the head?"

.

Balamb's church was a monolith compared to the rest of the town. It was taller, deeper, and broader. Seifer wouldn't hesitate to use the word 'imposing', but the rest of Balamb's residents seemed to gravitate to 'comforting'. He and Ellone mounted the stairs and he took of his hat before pushing open the giant arched door.

The interior of the church was a reverential quiet rather than the lazy quiet of Balamb's main street, There was an energy, a voice here that Seifer always acknowledged as a a presence but never gave much thought to. The six or seven parishioners - who, Seifer noted, never seemed to leave - all seemed to breathe in and out at the same pace, which lent the church a certain air of sentience he wasn't entirely comfortable with.

He shut the door quietly and had Ellone take a seat in one of the back pews before he made his way along the far wall to the confessional.

No more than a moment after he sat down, he heard the door on the other side open and close followed by the rustling of robes as someone sat down. A second or two later, the shutter on the confessional screen was raised.

Seifer softly cleared his throat. "Bless me, father, for I am about to sin."

There was a second too long of a pause before a thick brogue responded. "My son, I can't absolve you if you've not yet done anythin'."

"You thirsty, Padre?"

"I am, boyo."

"Then you'd best figure a way around this lattice work." He tapped the screen with the bottle.

There was another pause before Seifer heard the man stand up. "If you're not wishin' to confess at this time, I would insist we adjourn to my office to speak further."

"I brought company."

"The more the merrier, boyo."

"Lead the way."

Seifer and Father Kinneas stepped out of the confessional at the same time and shook hands.

"It's been a while, me old friend."

"I was here two days ago, Padre."

Irvine smiled and nodded toward the bottle. "Wit' all due respect, Sheriff, I wasn't talkin' t'you."

Seifer waved Ellone over.

"Is Miss Loire the sinnin' you were referrin' to?"

"Don't make me shoot you, Kinneas."

"Bless your resolve and restraint, my son."

At her approach, the three exchanged quiet pleasantries before moving off down a hall to Irvine's office.

.

Seifer pulled the cork from the bottle - _squeak, squeak, pop_ \- and poured two shots. Irvine took one and Seifer gestured for Ellone to take the other.

"Alright," she said, with a small smile. "But whatever plan we come up with better be worth me taking a shot of this rotgut." She gamely downed the whiskey and proceeded to cough and wipe her eyes until Irvine handed her a cup of water.

Seifer recounted his conversation with Leonheart's gang and Irvine poured two more shots.

"I guess it's time I leave town, then." Ellone said when he was done.

"No it ain't."

"But-"

"But, nothin'. You leave and Balamb gets razed to the ground. Long as you're here, we've got some leverage."

"I don't understand."

Seifer downed his next shot. "Leonheart already knows you're in town. The entire time he was here, he didn't take his eyes off'a me. He wasn't lookin' around for where you might be hidin', like he was a couple a months ago when he came searchin' for you. He gave me a day to talk you into goin' with him."

"So he knew you were bluffing about how much time he's got left on the requisition."

"Yep. But Dinct and Tillmet didn't know. He's keepin' up appearances."

Irvine leaned forward in his chair to rest his elbows on the desk. "Wha's the point of all that, then?"

"He probably doesn't want to honor the contract." He looked back to Ellone. There's only one reason somebody'd pay a group of Regulators to find you. Now, Leonheart's a ways away from where he used to be, but he ain't so far gone he'd just hand you over to be killed."

"Killed? The person who issued the contract thinks I'm the sorceress?"

"That's the only thing that makes sense. If I were Leonheart, I'd find you and act like I was gonna turn you over just to find out who was footin' the bill."

"He wants me as bait?"

"Yes and no. Like I said, he ain't so far round the bend he'd harm you, but he'll sure bring a world a' hurt down on the people who would. And helpin' people that mean to bag themselves a sorceress shuffle off this mortal coil ain't exactly somethin' he's gonna lose sleep over."

Irvine cleared his throat to get Seifer and Ellone's attention. "I appreciate you makin' me a part a' your little plannin' session and all - an' I'll certainly not let the whiskey go to waste - but me flock ain't gonna tend itself."

"Sorry, Padre. If you wanna go back to impartin' Hyne's wisdom for a bit, go ahead. I need Ellone to work some magic for me and then I'll know what I need you to do."

Ellone looked incredulous. "You need me to what?"

"Bit risky, ain't it, boyo?"

Seifer stood and looked between them. His tone was serious without being grave. "I need to get into Leonheart's head and see all the cards he's holdin'."

"No. I refuse. The last time I did that..."

"I know." He didn't need to be reminded that his idea could go all kinds of wrong. "But that was different. I'm hopin' this time'll be a little easier on all of us."


	3. Chapter 3

Seifer reclined on the small cot Father Kinneas had in a spare room in the church.

"Don't finish that bottle while I'm sleepin' Padre. I got a feelin' I'm gonna be needin' some of it when I wake up."

"How long you plan on bein' out, boyo?"

"No idea."

"No promises, then."

Ellone walked in and took a seat on a chair next to the cot. "You ready?"

"As I'll ever be."

He closed his eyes and waited for something to happen. Other than his own breathing, there was no other sound to distract him and he got bored after a few minutes. Ellone had told him not to talk or move too much so the transition would be smooth, but how long did she expect him to lay there before he-

The temperature changed without warning. It had been pleasant and cool in Kinneas' spare room, but now it was as hot as a furnace. He opened his eyes and saw…

Complete emptiness. There was a grayish-brown sky over brownish-gray ground and that was it. The horizon stretched impossibly far and while there was light enough to see, Seifer had no idea where it was coming from.

He was in time compression. He had seen this place zip by along with hundreds upon hundreds of others when he had gotten caught up in it before. He was on the verge of panicking when he realized what had happened. Ellone had sent him back in time to ten years ago.

He felt… wrong, somehow. Sluggish? No, that wasn't it. Out of step with reality. That made sense, seeing as his mind was a stowaway in Leonheart's body, but the actual feeling was so violently uncomfortable - like having a barrel full of copperheads poured over your head and told not to move or else they'd bite you - that all he wanted to do was shake and jump until he woke up and damn the consequences.

That initial sensation faded in a moment, though, and Seifer wasn't sorry for it to go. He now felt like he was wearing a coat that was too small for him. He reckoned that made sense, too. Leonheart was smaller than him.

Seifer got the impression that Leonheart was about to start walking when the ground dropped away. He stayed exactly where he was while the dry and cracked earth fell away fast enough to set his head spinning.

No.

The ground wasn't falling, he was flying straight up. How the hell was Leonheart flying?

A small lump of darkness appeared off to his right and the upward flight shifted smoothly in that direction. The slight turn caused long black hair to flap in front of his eyes.

This wasn't Leonheart. It was Heartilly. Ellone had transferred him to the wrong person.

The dark thing Seifer - and Rinoa - had seen was Leonheart. He lay crumpled on the ground in a heap and wasn't moving. Rinoa sped up her flight and Seifer had the singularly odd experience of feeling another person feel a hot, harsh wind on their skin. There was also a tugging at her shoulder blades that he realized was the flapping of wings.

He didn't like this. Not one bit. He wanted out and down on the ground and to be done and back in his own body and drunk and-

Her landing was far from ungraceful, but the force of it left a small crater around her feet and an opaque skein of dust hanging in the air. Seifer felt those back muscles move again and figured that was the wings pulling back to her body.

Heartilly pitched forward onto her knees and clawed at Leonheart's jacket. Her impact had shifted him into a mostly prone position. Seifer could see that Leanheart was dead - his eyes were open and glassy and his chest was sunken with the absence of all the air he no longer needed - but Heartilly didn't notice these things.

She pulled Leonheart's body onto her lap and began stroking his hair. She kept repeating his name and telling him to wake up. Seifer could feel her chest constricting, the air growing heavier in her lungs, and the heat from within her rising to make the temperature outside seem chilly by comparison. Her hands began to glow and he watched her settle them over the body's heart.

Nothing happened.

She stopped talking, took a deep breath and held it. On the exhale, she brought forth the glow again and Seifer could feel her body tense with concentration. It still had no effect. She drew in another breath, deeper this time, and Seifer knew what was going to happen. He wasn't expecting what came after that, however.

Rinoa screamed. A long, loud, keening wail that found something within this desolate landscape to echo off of. It was misery, pain, frustration, and anger directed at no one and Seifer could feel Rinoa's nerves being stripped raw.

And then something snapped. If he'd had a head to turn, he would've looked around for where the sound came from. A single, solitary *snap* that would've been someone stepping on a twig if there had been any trees around. He didn't immediately know why, but that sound scared him because it came from inside Rinoa's head.

The wail ceased and Heartilly stood straight up without warning. Leonheart fell twisted and limp back to the ground. Seifer could no longer sense anything about Rinoa. Her mind was far too jumbled and chaotic to be able to pick any one thing out among the rest, so he was again caught off guard by her taking flight. She flew up a good thirty feet and stopped, levitating there as he felt her start to pull ambient energy into herself. Her thoughts began to coalesce and the swirl of emotions eddied away to just one - determination.

"Isn't this a wonderful reunion?"

The voice came from everywhere all at once and startled Seifer. Then he recognized whose voice it was, and even with no physical form to show it, he shivered. "Maybe for you. Not so much for me."

Ultimecia shimmered into view and Seifer somehow knew that only he could see her. She looked like solid darkness poured into the mold of a human being, with a slash of red here and a shock of silver there.

He could feel Rinoa slipping into a slight trance as she continued to draw power. "How in blazes are you even here? All of this happened after Leonheart and his crew had dealt with you."

"Dealt with? Is that how I'm being remembered? As just some pitiful annoyance worth no one's time or attention?"

"Almost everyone remembers you as terrifying and cruel. Ain't that how you wanted it?"

"How do you remember me, my Knight?"

"Lady, I spent three years at the bottom of a bottle, a year after that tryin' to figure out how to keep myself alive when the rotgut didn't kill me, and since then, I've been kinda busy keepin' myself sane and out of other people's business. I ain't thought about you any more'n I had to."

"Poor dear. To have such an ignoble and pedestrian end to your romantic dream. You deserved better."

"I thought so, too. But the man on the pale horse didn't show up no matter how many times I knocked on his fuckin' door, so I kept on livin'."

"Was our time together so repugnant that you truly attempted to bring and end to your life in an effort to free yourself of the memory?"

"Yeah."

Despite having no discernible features, Seifer was sure he saw her bristle at that.

"You slew the nigh-immortal Odin while acting in concert with me!"

"Keep on bringin' up the shit you think I'm supposed to be proud of and see how far it gets you."

She reacted again. Seifer could feel it even though there was nothing to see. "You don't belong here, Seifer. This is neither your time nor your place. Why are you here?"

"I'm just a passenger. Tryin' to figure some things out. What's your excuse?"

"The sound you heard earlier was Rinoa severing her ties with the reality you know. She has called on me for help and I have no intention of ignoring her. As for you being a passenger, Ellone is still behaving as though her power is a toy she can trot out for whomever asks. Being able to manipulate time is not a parlor trick."

Seifer ignored the vitriol coming from Ultimecia's all-encompassing voice. If he had shoulders, he would have shrugged. "You're no longer a presence that either one of us considers worth our time. You're irrelevant." His voice made it clear that he wasn't being mean, he was simply stating a fact.

"We shall see, my Knight. We shall see."

Seifer knew she was smiling. It was a cold and lifeless smile that hid pure evil behind it's teeth, but he was able to recognize that now.

She vanished just as she'd appeared - shimmering out of Seifer's sight - leaving a palpable sense of frost-covered dread behind.

Rinoa closed her eyes and Seifer's world went completely black. She was siphoning more and more energy to the point where Seifer was becoming more concerned with what she was going to do with it rather than how it was going to effect her.

He felt her body reach a point that teetered on the edge of breaking apart and then Rinoa opened her eyes.

A searing white light was all there was. So vibrant that it pulsed and bright enough to make Seifer wish he had the ability to close his eyes.

The oppressive heat and dusty wind was still there, but everything visible was blotted out by the light. He heard Ultimecia chuckle somewhere off in the distance and Rinoa raised her arms out in front of herself.

Images erupted from the infinite white.

No. Not images.

Windows.

Seifer tried to figure out what was going on as much as he could, but every time he took a second to focus on one event, Rinoa would already be opening two or three more. The lack of sky and clouds and ground quickly became a tightly packed expanse of portholes.

Windows looking into everywhere. Everywhen.

Every possible outcome of every possible decision ever made. All in one place. And Rinoa was scanning through them all so fast that Seifer couldn't even begin to keep up.

He fought against waves of vertigo as hundreds of thousands of worlds fought for space in this world.

He saw the world of his memories - barren and dusty, being at the mission with all the other orphans, going to Garden, learning to ride horses and shoot guns - alongside worlds that he couldn't believe actually existed - buildings made of metal, people riding on machines that didn't touch the ground, weapons that defied description.

Rinoa started pointing at various windows and they would wink out of existence. The bizarre and impossible ones were the first to go. Seifer, on some level, understood that he had been seeing glimpses of a timeline that wasn't his own, but he had no time to dwell on that as they vanished from the tableau before him.

She had narrowed the field down to a few hundred and was being a little more careful about the windows she was closing.

Seifer suddenly realized what Rinoa was doing. A ragged and horrific coldness came over him as she closed all but six windows. Six that showed the exact same place and the exact same person.

They were all of Leonheart walking through time compression.

He could see right away that two of them were not the Squall from his world - the clothes were wrong - fur collars and an excess of belts and buckles.

She closed those two windows.

She closed a third when she realized the Leonheart of that world had no scar.

One of the remaining three closed after Seifer watched Leonheart draw his gun and shoot himself in the head.

Rinoa watched the last two intently.

Ultimecia's voice drifted to him through the sound of the wind. "Fascinating, isn't it? How quickly you can find a replacement version of someone when all of time and space is at your disposal."

"Fuck off."

"There's no need for that, my Knight. You, after all, are the one here without a proper invitation."

"You gonna kick me out?"

"I have no dominion over you here, no."

"Then fuck off."

"Very well, Seifer. But know this: I have already seen what Rinoa has not and while I can do nothing to you, you can do nothing for her."

He was on the verge of asking what she meant by that, but decided against it. He felt her presence recede. Rinoa tensed and Seifer watched her close one of the two remaining windows. He couldn't figure out why she had chosen one Leonheart over the other, but she had. He was aware of just how drained she was. A large amount of the energy she'd absorbed was still present within her, but he could feel how emotionally empty she was.

The time compressed world had returned as the windows had closed and Leonheart's body was still splayed out on the ground below. Rinoa wiped tears from her eyes, blew him a kiss, and flew through the last open window just as that world's Leonheart was dropping to his knees.

Seifer felt a slight resistance as Rinoa crossed over from one plane to the next and he watched her close the window. A warmth in her chest flared up for a brief moment but as the window vanished, the brittle cold of Ultimecia enveloped it.

Rinoa hovered a moment longer as Leonheart sagged to the ground. She descended slowly and touched down just behind him. She was just kneeling down to pull him into her lap when she closed her eyes and Seifer felt the temperature go from stifling to cool.

The sound of Ellone humming a tune he didn't recognize ushered him back into the real world. He kept his eyes closed and breathed in the scent of damp stone, wool blankets, and books. He lifted his hand to run it down his face and surprised himself by how happy he was to be able to do so.

"Welcome back, Sheriff."

Seifer grunted in reply and swung his legs onto the floor. "How long was I asleep?"

"About a half hour. How do you feel?"

"Do you know where you sent me?"

Ellone furrowed her brow in thought. "Not… exactly. I mean, I know I sent you back to when time was compressing, and I was hoping for a little bit before Squall and Rinoa got back, but if I missed and you wound up somewhere else, I'm sorry."

"Why there? Why so far back?"

"You said you wanted to get into Squall's head and I figured that going back to what probably caused his erratic behavior would be the best place to start."

Seifer stood, grabbed the whiskey bottle and poured himself a shot. "You didn't miss. That was just about the best place I coulda' been." He took the shot just as Irvine walked into the room.

"Oi! Look who's awake. Did you find what you were lookin' for?"

"And more. But ain't none of it good."


End file.
